


setting sail.

by theholylight



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Akechi Goro Lives, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble, Established Relationship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Niijima Makoto Dies, rated t because her death is implied but i will put the rating to m if need be, the ship scene but what if makoto was the tactician she claimed to be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 20:58:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15614877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theholylight/pseuds/theholylight
Summary: There was a certain freedom to making one's own choices.(Or, Makoto Niijima does the unexpected for the man she loves and who would never be able to return her feelings)





	setting sail.

**Author's Note:**

> The established relationship part is mostly the Ryuji/Haru one. The Makoto/Haru one was past and one-sided on Haru's part before she found love with Ryuji.
> 
> Anyway, Makoto is finally useful I guess and that makes her happy could also be a summary?

"You don't have to do this!"

Skull's loud, somewhat obnoxious voice could be heard loudly in the otherwise quiet room, even a pin drop could be heard at this moment. As she watched Akechi Goro raise his gun with a small smile dancing on his lips, about to pull the shutter down between them and his Cognitive self once and for all, Makoto could only stare at the not so hidden grief painted on Joker's face as the realization came to him as soon as it did to her.

"Hey, Akechi! Listen to me, it doesn't have to be this way!" Skull kept shouting, slamming his fists into the metal that was slowly coming down between them, Noir's gentle touch to his arm doing little to pursue him to stop. "AKECHI!" 

Watching both him and Joker choke up for different - yet similar - reasons, made the decision that she was about to make all that much easier. For once, she would make her own choice in life without the pressure of her sister or even the others to make her choice for her. This wasn't like trying to get information from Sae's laptop, this was .... Makoto Niijima finally spreading her fingers and doing something of her own choice and it felt...  _free_. 

"This is just so cute... what? Will you bring him some flowers while you are at it?" Cognitive Akechi sneered, seemingly trying hard not to laugh at the scene in front of him, leveling his gun on Goro as the detective prince did the same, the shutter now allowing one small chance at her doing something... one small mistake and her actions would be for nothing. Determined, Queen nodded to herself and rushed forward, ignoring the shocked cries of the other Phantom Thieves as she slid down the barely closed shutter, likewise quickly looking over a protesting Akechi's condition before sliding him down in the now barely able to fit him opening, leaving him with the others and her with the Shadows and his Cognitive self. "Oh? We have a smart one here, huh?"

Makoto stared at the gun pointed at her face, shakily raising her own to point at the fake, the screams and shouts of her teammates like white noise in her ears. 

"Thank you... everyone..." deciding that if these were her possible last words, she wanted to get them out of the way before she couldn't. "... thank you for believing in me. And trusting me and being my friends... tell sis that I'm sorry... and Joker..." taking a deep breath, the brunette closed her eyes, her aim feeling more steady by the minute. "... I love you. However, I quickly realized that you would never feel the same way for me so... I wanted to ensure that you could be happy, at least, no matter what... I..." 

"Queen..." 

Ren spoke quietly but loud enough for her to still hear him, Goro's head on his lap now as the other began to slowly recover. The partition was now fully closed, ensuring that they couldn't see Makoto or the Shadows anymore at all. Skull resumed his shouting - but this time for Queen - the others too stunned to join him as their leader chuckled in a breathless. "... same to you, thank you. And I am sorry that I can't return your feelings..." 

"Can you hear me!? Hey!" Navi shouted, trying desperately to reach Makoto as their healers started working on healing Crow's wounds, however, the navigator was more worried when she couldn't hear anything from the other side for a moment. "Queen!?"

Still nothing for a moment, the entire group seemingly holding their breath aside from Goro, who was still recovering and thus couldn't say or do much of anything. And then...

.... two gun shots resounded through the still engine room, followed by silence from the group itself before the redhead spoke up in quiet, defeated voice. Joker watched as Noir walked over to the younger girl and gave her a hug, the two of them sad but seemingly not crying, if barely, as Navi spoke the final verdict.

"I can't sense anything. The Shadows, Akechi's Cognitive self... or Makoto. No vital signs... left..."

"DAMMIT!"

"Ryu-chan..." Noir whispered, reaching over to pull her boyfriend into the now group hug. "... it's not your fault. Mako-c.... Makoto made the choice of her own free will... I... I... all we can do now is put a stop to Shido, for the sake of Makoto and everyone else he has hurt in some way!" with a fierce look in her eyes, she turned to face the remaining Phantom Thieves. "Shall we, everyone?" 

"Yes." Joker spoke, giving Goro his shoulder to lean on as he stood up. "We shall. Phantom Thieves, it's time to do what we do best!"

"Yeah!"

And with that, the group gave the shutter one last glance before leaving the engine room for the nearest safe room to relax and heal themselves. And then it would be time to fight Shido and hopefully put an end to everything after they do.

Makoto's _sacrifice_ wouldn't be in **vain**.

**Author's Note:**

> I wish this was canon but oh well.
> 
> And yeah, they did nothing to save Makoto because they did nothing in the canon of the game, either, so... *shrug*
> 
> And I can see Ryuji/Haru being the kind of couple that would have nicknames and endearments for each other so there is that. I love Ryuji/Haru so I might write more for the couple, be it before (so how they became a couple) or after (dealing with Shido etc.) this moment in this AU of mine or just in general. It's slowly becoming one of my P5 otps :D


End file.
